Canada: Breach of Confidence

Breach of Confidence

It was as if 16 million Canadians had had their wallets lifted -- credit cards, IDs and all. Revenue Minister Elmer MacKay told the House of Commons last week that on Oct. 30 microfiche records on nearly every 1985 Canadian taxpayer -- documents so reduced that all of them could fit inside a shoe box -- were stolen from Toronto's District Taxation Center. It was, said MacKay, the "most grievous blow to confidentiality in the department's history."

Two hours after the announcement, the records were surrendered to police by a lawyer representing Andreas J. Hackner, a junior tax assessor for Revenue...